Congratulations to you both, welcome back! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Please join me in congratulating our Parker and FrozenLily to the ranks of Admiral and Fleet Captain, respectivly.

After a short hiatus, Parker is rejoining the ranks of Admiral as our Chief of Fleet Morale. He previously served as our Chief of Membership Management for 7 months.

As well, FrozenLily will be rejoining the Membership Management Department as a Fleet Captain.

Congratulations to you both!!

Yeah, I don't think that marginalizing and insulating on group from another is the best way of gaining acceptance in mainstream society. There was an interesting article in the Eastsider LA about our other major "gay ghetto," Silverlake. Which is technically North of Downtown and west of the LA river but still isn't considered the "West Side" though it's really not that far from the Pink Vatican we know as West Hollywood. Anyway the article was about how this always very artsy, eclectic community at one time had 7 LGBT bars and clubs but over the years that number dwindled to 2 and now it's just one.

The funny thing is that the LGBT population in that area had grown, not shrunk and they were not going to WeHo to get their club/drink on. The LGBT community was so gentrified that they'd begun frequenting regular "straight" establishments with no resistance from the general community because they'd gained so much acceptance. I've heard from friends of mine in other cities a similar decline is happening where more and more LGBT individuals are mainstreaming and their "gay ghettos" declining.

I suppose it's a good thing, but still kinda sad at the same time. We gain acceptance but seem to lose something special along the way. I feel like Captain Janeway in "Death Wish" when Q offers to send her home if she rules in the Continuum's favor and she echoes Q's question to her saying softly to herself: "that's what I wanted."

And yes, I too get the Genosha reference. ;)

I have never really flown carriers on the kdf side so I'm not sure about what can and can't carry the bops.

As for the dominion ship I have no idea but its a lobi ship so should hopefully be reasonable. Though without a bug ship you can't get bugship fighters on it.

How much does the dom dread cost now, anyone have any ideas? Can i put the bird of preys on it, not getting a jhas for this alt? I really dont want a gorn in the xindi carrier.

I believe the voquv gets bird of prey fighters which count as frigates.

Of course if you wanted more punch to your carrier you could look into the dominion dreadnought and aquatic ship.

OOOOOO!O I call Magneto!!

Quote by Ngagecloak

Uhm, Genosha anyone?

(I'm not the only comic book geek here, am I? Nevermind, carry on.) :whistle:

Quote by Andrea Maria

P.S.: @Lars: you should have won, your Talaxian Seductress is the scariest I´ve ever seen! xD

I was laughing out loud at Lars sexy Talaxian, so funny. best thing ive seen.
if anyone hasn't seen the pics yet, go look at Dave's gallery (posted one page back)

I have to add my thanks for the event too, I always look forward to this departments events, the prizes aside, its so much fun and brilliantly organised.

THANK YOU!!!

Do I pick the Karfi or the voquv? Does the karfi get frigates like the voquv?

Quote by Ngagecloak

Uhm, Genosha anyone?

(I'm not the only comic book geek here, am I? Nevermind, carry on.) :whistle:

No, no you're not. :P

Uhm, Genosha anyone?

(I'm not the only comic book geek here, am I? Nevermind, carry on.) :whistle:

Thank you for putting so much work into this awesome event!

I had sooo much fun! The only bad thing is that the two days were over so fast and we now have to wait another year to collect MOOOAAR BRRRAAAAINNNNSSSS!!!

Greetings, A.M. :)


P.S.: @Lars: you should have won, your Talaxian Seductress is the scariest I´ve ever seen! xD

aaaaand 50, phew. If anyone wants company/heals while farming Hasla (West), the name's Occlo :)

Amazing event and amazing screenshots!
Thanks again for organizing it! :woohoo:

Also, I am quite proud of my Talaxian. The screenshot where she is just behind the Bolian made me tear up in laughter :P

This was such an awesome event and full of great times with the fleet and the undead!

Such amazing screenshots of everyone in action!!

Thanks for these Dave,

You certainly put a lot of effort into the events and this makes them thoroughly enjoyable!

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As a very special Halloween treat, we've compiled a photo gallery of all of our Halloween events than ran throughout the weekend, from our Halloween costume contest entries, to our Trellium Catastrophe team runs, our Zombie Crawl and Zombie versus Zombie Hunter PvP!

I hope that you all had as much fun playing as we had hosting the weekend for you! Winners for the Trellium Catastrophe event will be listed and contacted in the coming days! In the mean-time, enjoy some AMAZING screenshots of your team's successes! (Due to technical difficulties, not all Trellium Catastrophe teams were captured -- check to see if your team is featured in the album!)


http://voleron.net/stonewall/halloween2014/gallerybutton2.png

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Thank you to everyone who entered our Captain Biography contest! The contest is now closed, and no more entries will be accepted. (The thread has been locked). The Judging panel will need the week to read the amazing entries we've received and will announce the winners here in this forum thread, by Sunday, November 9th!

We'll also be cleaning up this thread by archiving any posts that aren't actual entries, and by copying people's entries directly into this thread, if they were linked elsewhere. This will make it easier on our judging panel in terms of locating the material that they need to review, so don't be alarmed by the thread clean-up!

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me through the fleet website!

Good luck to all of our participants!

[attachment=2548]Signature_2014-10-02.png[/attachment]

I had lost most of my teeth by the time I was 12. They waited for me outside the gates and called my parents perverts as my face smashed against the cold concrete. No one really did anything about it, because all on Trill agreed it was my parents fault rather than the ones with the bats and knives. Except mother. She went round to their parents and gave them a piece of her mind. She lost a tooth or two herself.

The doctors at least took pity as they patched me up. They said if I was lucky I wouldn't inherit any of my parents deviance. I replied that I thought I'd be lucky if I was half of what my parents were. My father was in Starfleet defending us from the Dominion and my mother designed flood defences to defend or cities from typhoons. I hoped my father would see me become a captain myself.

My father died when I was 10. He came back home ill with something. We knew it was hopeless a few days before the end. I got in from school and mother was talking with the doctors. She turned to me and tried to tell me, but just burst into tears. I asked if he would come back: as I had been told mom and dad came back in different bodies and remarried before they had me. The doctors looked at their feet nervously. Later my mother told me that because they did it last time they could never have another life again, even if they agreed to stay apart. And that, they would never, could never do. She never left his side till the end. I watched from the door and occasionally brought them drinks. I was too afraid to stay. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. To say. To feel.

After he went, I held his hand. It was cold as a stone. I ran. Ran though the night. That night, asleep, I thought of him. But where there was once a memory of a birthday, there was a cold hand. Where we had built a model starship, there was a cold hand. I never visited his grave, to protect what was left of him in my mind. Mother never understood. We drifted. I thought more of him, I canonised him in my memory as I prepared to go off to Starfleet. My mother's mourning never ended and I became unimportant.

Years later, a lecture was given at my school to potential Starfleet cadets by dad's old first officer. I went up to him at the end to talk about my father but the more he talked of him, the more of a stranger dad sounded. What I had thought was genius; was chance. What he adored; I had never heard of. I saw so little of him, did I even know him? That evening I got a call. Mother had been in an accident.

They didn't know if she could hear. If I had something to say, it should be now. With years of silence behind me, I thought it would all blurt out. It didn't. Just like she never talked to me when dad died. We both could never get our feelings off or tongues. I heard two doctors outside talking, saying a reminder of her crime was the last thing she should have in front of her as final hour approached. The other replied that it gives her an opportunity to repent. I went out there and gave them a piece of my mind. Coming back in, I could see a smile on her face like she had heard. Despite our distance, I am far more like her than my dad, more than I'd ever had admitted. I took her home. I could see her gazing at the pictures of the family on the wall. If she couldn't heard, she could at least see. I took one down, embraced it and laid out next to her. She understood, I thought.

But there was another option. Dad's first officer was a doctor and is more accepting than the spiteful enforcers of this society's taboos. We would give her another life.

Now she understands, and I do too. I finally know first hand the father that was taken from me and the full story of why they did what they did. Life has found a way in this frightened world, though I doubt I'll ever be welcome to walk its egg shell of again. That is my sacrifice and my honour. I see my hero for all his flaws and am proud of who I come from. I will do what it takes to stand up for the downtrodden and remember the soulful face of all tragedy and triumph. That is home, and that is what I pledge to protect.

That concludes my personal statement for academy entry.

Cadet Ira

Ylis
Nathanite
Federation Ambassador
U.S.S. Socrates
[photo in signature]

"Ylis is odd."

This is what the cadets whisper whenever the towering amphibioid enters the room. They clearly skipped out on cultural-sensitivity training at the Academy. Apparently, they are also ignorant of the incredible sensitivity of Nathanite hearing.

Sometimes they remark on the Federation ambassador's penchant for speaking in questions, assuming he must perpetually be either confused or sarcastic. It never occurs to them that universal-translator technology is not all it's cracked up to be, that Starfleet has been working a full thirty years to break the code. Only recently has Ylis's chief xenolinguist aboard the Socrates made modest progress in translating the Nathanite language into a mode more appealing to the ears of the average Federation citizen.

Other times, they'll notice how Ylis fidgets, scratching at his diplomatic vestments. Perhaps if they knew that, on Nathanus V, no one wears clothing, and that the handful of Nathanites inhabiting Federation space have overcome great physical discomfort simply to appear in public clothed, then they would treat the ambassador more graciously.

If only they simply knew Ylis's story. Or the story of the Nathanites, for that matter - the supernova of the star Omicron-37 one million years ago, releasing a stream of nathon particles into the orbit of Nathanus V four light-years away, a phenomenon which rapidly sped up the evolution of Nathanties, from creatures resembling the extinct axolotls of Earth to a sentient, space-faring society.

Ylis was ten at the time of first contact, and from then on, he knew his path would carry him through the stars. He begged his three fathers for an educational opportunity that would set him on this path. At twelve, he enrolled in the fledgling Nathanus Institute of Exoanthropology. He graduated with honors at fourteen, and then applied to Starfleet Academy. The powers-that-be at the Academy were hesitant to accept someone so young, but at last relented when the Nathanus Egalitariate informed them of how rapidly Nathanites develop, and that, actually, Ylis was slightly behind the curve for his species.

During his Academy years, Ylis was noted for his curiosity. At first, this was chalked up to his language difficulties, but later, his professors noted that the tall blue student in the back of the class possessed an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. They considered that this curiosity, combined with his relaxed and equanimous demeanor (aforementioned factors aside), made for the perfect Federation diplomat. Thus they encouraged him to enroll in the diplomatic corps after graduation.

But Ylis was not comfortable with the idea of forestalling his dream of exploring space whilst cloistered in yet another set of classrooms and offices indefinitely. So Starfleet struck a compromise, giving Ylis command of his first ship, the U.S.S. Thales, whilst allowing him to develop his career in the Federation diplomatic corps from afar.

Ylis’s first missions took him to the Delta Volanis cluster. Here, he made first contact with several species, including the Totarans, the Rimbalans, and the Maedwii. He also brokered a peace treaty between the Fegrans and the Zaji.

But peace would not be the norm for long: war broke out between the Federation and Klingons in 2408. By this time, Ylis was captain of the U.S.S. Socrates, a powerful Odyssey-class starship built for defense. This commission was originally intended to allow Ylis’s crew to maintain diplomatic arrangements in more dangerous sectors of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. But now, Admiral Quinn called Ylis and his ship to fight on the frontlines for the Federation.

All the while, Ylis was deeply disturbed by what he saw as a needless loss of life. At times, he even contemplated rescinding the Federation citizenship Starfleet accorded him and catching the first ship to the Orellius Sector so he could return to a life of simple contemplation on Nathanus V. But his closest confidantes convinced him to maintain his commission, arguing that a quick end to the war would return peace to both the Federation and the Empire.

Now, the war is behind Ylis, and what lies ahead is the wonders of the Delta Quadrant. Admiral Tuvok has called the Socrates to a diplomatic mission of indefinite duration, allowing Ylis and his crew to resume what they love most – to learn, to discover, and to make peace.

And still, Ylis hears the snickers when he enters a room. No matter. He holds his head high, for he knows how far he has come, and where he’s going.